The Bears Bear a Bare Kuma – Chapter 119

Bear-san Talks About Experience

Marcus took out his sword while Timor stayed in the back with his short wand.
Shia and Cattleya were both wielding swords, trying to attract the other goblin’s attention.
Marcus rushed towards the first goblin, and, at the same time, Timor attacked the goblin with fire magic. The goblin’s movements became dull for a second. Using that moment, Marcus attacked the goblin with his sword. The goblin groaned, and parried with his rusty sword.
Timor was in the rear and used a short wand, so he was a magician, right? The power of his magic was really low, though.
I knew that I shouldn’t compare it to mine, but it was still weak.
Was it because he was only a student?
Or did he lower his power since Marcus was close?
Wait, if he was able to kill it with one magic attack, there would be no need for Marcus to charge in, right?
Marcus’s sword technique was also awkward. The goblin had a lot of openings, but Marcus was still being pushed back.

「Shit.」

Marcus clicked his tongue and moved backwards to create some distance between him and the goblin. When he moved far enough, Timor launched a spell, but it didn’t hit the goblin.
Marcus tried to hit the goblin again, but the goblin parried with its sword.
This situation made me want to launch magic at the goblin’s unprotected head.
Hmm, I didn’t know that looking at others fighting would be so frustrating and stressful.

I shifted my gaze a little and looked to see how Shia and Cattleya were doing. They were fighting a distance away from Marcus.
Shia kept their goblin in check while Cattleya covered her with magic.
They also had an advantage, but they weren’t able to finish it off.

「Shia-san, I will launch stronger magic; use that chance.」

Cattleya sent several fireballs from the distance.
They hit the goblin, but didn’t deal a fatal wound. She stopped his movement, though.
Using the opening, Shia shortened the distance between her and the goblin, then launched the fireball she had in her hand at point blank range, pushing the goblin back. The goblin moved back one, two steps after taking that magic. Shia moved in and used her sword that was in her left hand.
She cut the goblin’s arm, then pierced its throat. With its throat pierced, the goblin crumbled to the ground.
They managed to finish it off, but they apparently weren’t able to defeat it easily.
Cattleya’s movement and magic already became dull.
Was she really able to use stronger magic?

「Haa, haa, we killed it. What about Marcus and Timor?」

Their fight was also finished. They had a hard fight too, but managed to defeat it thanks to their combination.
Hmm, was this really something they had to struggle with?

「This was easy.」

For someone who just said that, Marcus and Timor were breathing really hard.
With just one goblin…
Was this normal?
Still, they were able to kill a goblin, so that meant they had the strength of newbie E rank adventurers, right?
Didn’t that actually mean they were strong for their age?
Well, facing a herd of goblin or orcs would still be impossible for them.
As Eleanora-san told me, taking on a goblin was their limit, it seemed.

From what I saw, the problem was the lack of power, but there was also the lack of experience.
Just like a novice gamer, they hesitated on how to attack.
I fought thousands, if not ten thousands of monsters and people in the game. I died a lot, lost a lot, but piled up experience. You could learn a lot from dying and losing. When you lost, you did your best to become stronger in order to win next time. What wasn’t good enough? What was needed to become stronger? These children didn’t have that experience. If they lost, only death awaited them, and when you died in this world, it was game over.

They were exactly like me who had never led a horse.
If I had experience with it, I could drive the carriage and wouldn’t be this anxious. Since I had no experience with it, I wasn’t able to drive the carriage, and I was really stressed out being the only one on the driver’s seat.
Experience became your strength, be it your fighting technique or just how you see the battle; experience was linked to your growth, both physically and mentally.
Like me for an example, if I didn’t have the experience from the game, I would have a lot of problems even while having my Bear Equipment.
I wouldn’t have known how to use magic, nor would I have known how dangerous fighting was. I might not have even been able to kill things with magic.
I remembered how scared I was when I first fought a monster in the very realistic game. I was able to keep it together only after I did it a few times.
If I came here before I played the game, I would have probably just continued my hikikomori life here. Or I might have even been killed by the first wolf I encountered.
All of this proved how much I really knew the importance of experience.

I think the academy was doing this practice training for that very reason.
The King and Eleanora-san also said that this training was to get experience.
The difficulties of traveling, the management of the horses, the terribleness of camping at night, the fear of monsters, the trust in comrades, the reliance on the guards, and many other things. I was sure fighting monsters was one of them.
I finally understood that my role was to protect them from dangers while they were learning about them, and how difficult my job really was.
I wanted to complain to Eleanora-san when we returned to the capital.

「I didn’t think goblins would really be here.」

Timor looked at the goblin corpses.

「I thought so too.」

「But with this, it is now proven that the Bear-san can detect monsters.」

Shia said happily.

「I still can’t believe it, though.」

They were all looking at the bears, who were sitting at my sides. The Bears noticed their gazes and looked back at them while tilting their heads.

「Isn’t it just a coincidence?」

Marcus said. He still didn’t believe it?
I looked at the Bears beside me. Yep, I wouldn’t believe it either. They looked like normal bear cubs, after all. Even though I knew this was a different world, I still wouldn’t believe it.
Someone spoke up in my stead, though.

「Bear-sans have no reason to lie, right?!」

「That’s right!」

Shia and Cattleya confronted Marcus and glared at him.
Marcus stepped back one, two steps.
Shia and Cattleya moved forward one, two steps.

「The bears proved it, right?」

「Even if they found the goblins by chance, could you guess the distance and the number of monsters, relying just on your luck, Marcus?」

Cattleya was saying some impossible things.
The girls advanced one more step.

「I get it, so stop being angry, okay?」

「It’s good if you understand.」

The two were satisfied and backed off.

「But summoned beasts, huh. It’s my first time seeing one.」

Timor stared at the bears.
I was sure that if he had glasses, the action of pushing them up on his nose would suit him.
Well, if he did it in front of me, I would probably break his glasses, though.

「Yuna-san, right? How strong are these summoned beasts?」

「I won’t tell you. I told you about the goblins just because Shia believed me.」

「Yuna-san……」

Shia seemed happy.

「You’re right. I’m sorry for asking something strange.」

Timor apologised obediently.
He was polite?

The students then proceeded to dismantle the goblins since, more monsters would come if we didn’t dispose of the corpses. They properly dismantled the goblins. Did they learn how to do it in one of their classes?

「We won’t have any problems with this practice training since we have these bears, though.」

Cattleya came back to the carriage after dismantling the corpse, and sat on the driver seat while embracing Swaying Bear.
I casually passed over the reins to her. Cattleya took them, not paying it any mind.
Perfect, I could be at ease now.

「I’m sorry to say this, but from now on I won’t say anything if it’s just goblins, you know.」

「Ara, is that so?」

「It wouldn’t be a practice training if I did. I now know you can at least kill the goblins. I will tell you if any dangerous monsters approach, though.」

「But, if you do that, there would be no meaning to this training, right?」

Shia butted in.

「I mean, if it’s only goblins, we can kill them, and if you told us when stronger monsters approached, the training would be pointless.」

「Then, should I not rely on Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear’s powers?」

I brought the Bears back to Bear Hands.

「They really disappeared.」

Cattleya seemed a little sad when the bear she was embracing disappeared.

「I won’t use the Bears’ powers anymore, so you should be aware of your surroundings from now on, okay?」

I wouldn’t use the Bears, but I would still use the detection magic.
I would be troubled if they died because of a sudden attack, after all.

「We are perfectly okay even without the bears. We would have defeated the goblins even if you didn’t tell us!」

Marcus shouted.
I didn’t think he should be this proud for being able to kill just one goblin, though…

They all boarded the carriage, and we once again embarked towards the village.
Shia and Cattleya asked me to summon the bears again, but I refused.
This was a moment when I had to be firm.
Still, when they were sleeping, I secretly summoned my bears, so they could look around for any dangers.

During our travel to the village, the only encounter were the goblins again.
Only two appeared this time as well, so the students were able to deal with them on their own.
Unlike the last time, they killed them smoothly. They learned fast, huh.
Soon enough, we reached our destination.

Author’s note:The book now has a more elaborate description.I would appreciate if the people interested would check it out.